Collected Poems 5
Kew Gardens, London
One Sunday morning
Two couples sat erect
On a park bench
With picnic baskets
Perched on their laps
Like treasure chests staring
at a hunched black cat
not far off,
just behind a bed of red tulips
sitting on high stiff legs
Clawed into lush green lawn,
With one great eye
Centered on their face.
They waited for it to lurch
To snatch what they held
When suddenly it drew its legs together
And sprang onto
An unruffled man's shoulder.